December 8, 2018

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 8, 2017, all wasted effort.
Five years ago today: December 8, 2013, early & grumpy.
Nine years ago today: December 8, 2009, where's the money?
Random years ago today: December 8, 2014, the 10,000 hour rule.

           Yep, I left my jacket at the library, so there’s my excuse to take time off and ride my bike over there. It’s at least a four mile trip, or nearly 260 calories. Now what I’m about to say is motivated by the opposite of what most people would naturally presume. I do have premonitions that turn out. But what I do not believe in is coincidences. It only seems that way because when they do happen, I pay particular attention. Got that? Because I don’t believe, not because I do believe. Also, I discount almost any coincidences that happen because of this journal. For obvious reasons. We go one today.

           Who remembers the first project on my scroll saw? These wooden Xmas ornaments? Well, I’m now going to make more soon as I get my shed happening. Alaine called from North Port to say she had just finished hanging the ornaments on some pine boughs. At the moment, I had just looked at this picture, from 2014, showing the unfinished wood. I was looking for a random year, and there’s your coincidence.

           For me, those were ambitious. If you examine this snowflake, you notice it requires eight drill holes and six internal saw cuts. Each of those diamond cuts involves removing the saw blade and feeding it back through. And the model I bought was not, I discovered soon enough, designed for quick blade changes. Nosirree.
The purpose of the call was the Xmas Concert. I got the invite, but what swayed my decision is the animal shelter. Alaine now volunteers there and chances are that’s where we’ll meet up for the concert. She kept stressing the concert was free, but that escapes me. Who would pay to go to a Xmas concert?

           I researched the bathroom interior walls, and I think tile is the way to go. Even if I don’t actually do that, the prep work is not that much more expensive than drywall. There’s an extra roll of 4 mil poly, but I don’t want any half measures in that part of the house. I see that Rick the Plumber will have to be called in, meanwhile, I’m cutting some temp floor panels so the room can be used up to the last moment. The tub will not scrub clean, and in any case, I’m looking closely at a luxury replacement with neat features. Old people features, too.
           I never intend to move out of here, in fact, I never intend to move ever again. Let me add up once more how many times in this life I’ve been like my yard, uprooted. We are talking moving all to a new place to live in the normal “moving van” sense of the word. Since I can remember leaving Texas, it has been 38 times off the top of my head. That averages more than twice a year, so it’s no wonder I have so many things gone missing. But so what, tomorrow I’m iinvited to an Xmas concert in Ft. Meyers with a classy lady. In the end, guys, that is all that counts.

Picture of the day.
Glass bottle factory.
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           Here’s a photo of brush clearing in the back yard. Four hours barely made a dent. Agt. R was over to find out what to plant and we found two oak saplings and a small loquat tree, all transplantable. He doesn’t suggest the pecan trees because I won’t get a crop for 15 years, but I don’t want a crop. I want decoration. We went over most of the yard to see what’s what. The priority is the large branches overhanging the roof. I have to invest in a gas chain saw for that work.

           In all, there will be too much cutting for the city to haul it away free. It will have to be stacked and put out for pickup one small pile at a time. The alternative is a better fire pit, or if I can find it, a burn barrel. Agt. R. has a steady job now and his time becomes rare, but more predictable. We are looking at Tuesday or so to get those overhanging branches down, at least the ones over the roof.

           A difficulty with the camphor trees is they grow fast enough to crowd out the sunlight slower trees like the two oaks we found. People are telling me that crepe myrtle makes a great hedge, but then Agt. R shows me the two bushes in the neighbor’s yard are that species. And they drop the leaves in the winter. Isn’t there an evergreen hedge? I’ve planned a row of trees along the south fence to make a shaded work area. All of this takes time, and the tree limbs have to come first. The winter rains are coming.
           Later, I got a half-ton of undergrowth yanked, cut, or raked out of the back, proving, as rumored, there really is a yard back there. The camphor trees are mammoths and have to be trimmed much more than first thought. The thing is, they are exactly on the property line. If I trim away my half, that would leave sixty- and eighty-foot trees with all the massive heavy limbs overbalanced on the other side.

           It goes to show you what a rube I am. As Agt. R toured the recently civilized areas around back, everything that grew by itself was a weed. To me, if it has flowers, looks okay, and doesn’t stink, leave it grow. Here, he wants to hack out my nice vines and paint the fence. I sort of like that bucolic look of old barn wood. But I should shore up that fence a bit now that we know it is definitely on my side of the property, although I think it must have been put there by the neighbor way back when.
           First things first, I buy that gasoline chain saw. The electric is okay for general cleaning up only. It does not have the rpm to fell a tree. Plus, anybody who lives here can tell you the electric is likely to be out right after any storm that requires clean-up with a chain saw. Agt. R has determined one limb out front to be suitable for a swing, so up it goes. It would come to rest right in the mini-garden bird sanctuary as part of the view from the front bedroom. A nice touch if you ask me. But then, I just told you I am okay with forty-two varieties of yard weed.

           [Author’s note: but I won’t make the mistake of just lending out the saw. I’ve been asked many times since I got here, including strangers. I would buy a supply of replacement chains and tell them, you can borrow it, but you must pay for a new chain up front. I’ll put it on for you. And, I get the chain back with the saw afterward. Fair is fair. Yeah, and fir is fir and some of it has been spiked.]

Last Laugh

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